Track Tested! We Drive the 2019 Dodge Challenger Hellcat Redeye

Right. So let’s talk about this new 2019 Challenger Redeye. When Dodge pulled the wraps off this sucker during their “What’s New” event back in June at the Chrysler Proving Grounds in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the MOPAR world was overjoyed and then subsequently pissed at the same time. You see, on the one hand they were digging the fact that Dodge went ahead and released yet another bonkers version of the Challenger. However, when they found out they’d swiped the 6.2L supercharged mill from the 2018 Demon to make it happen, well, that made folks think that Ma’ Mopar not only turned their backs on the 3,300 Demon owners, but also just saw a great way to cash in on the most powerful V8 ever stuffed under the hood of a production car – exclusivity be damned.

This is where I come in. You see I own a 2018 Dodge Demon, it’s Destroyer Gray with Napa red leather interior and hot damn if it doesn’t make you feel like you’re driving around in the world’s fastest howitzer. But here’s the thing, as soon as the Redeye was announced, my email, phone, and social media pages started blowing up with folks asking me how pissed I was and what my thoughts were on this so called Demon knockoff. One such call came from HOT ROD, asking me to share some thoughts from a Demon owner’s perspective. I welcomed the opportunity.

Before we begin though, we should clarify what the new 2019 Dodge Challenger Hellcat Redeye is, and more importantly, what it isn’t. On the surface, there are a lot of similarities between the two cars. For instance, the 2019 Hellcat Redeye is equipped with the same 6.2L supercharged V8 as the Demon. It pumps out 797-bhp @ 6,300 rpm and 707 lb-ft of torque at 4,500 rpm on 91-octane fuel. That’s 11-bhp and 10 lb-ft of torque shy of a stock Demon on pump gas. It also DOES NOT come with the Performance PCM to bump the power to 840-bhp on 100-octane race fuel.

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Underneath is the same TorqueFlite 8HP90 8-speed transmission. It utilizes torque reserve, the Chiller system, Line Lock, Launch Control and if properly equipped, even has the same 3.09 rear gear ratio (a 2.62 rear is standard). However where the Demon truly was a limited production and one-year-only factory drag car, the Redeye is being produced for anyone who can come up with the base price of $69,650 – (plus the $1,700 Gas Guzzler Tax).

While the differences between the two cars aren’t absurdly drastic, a keen eye will still be able to tell the two apart when they’re parked side-by-side. One of the most obvious cues is the new dual-snorkel hood that graces the front end of the Redeye. It’s more aerodynamic than the wide-mouth Air Grabber on the Demon and it helps the Redeye to achieve its top speed of 203-mph.

According to Chris Cowland, Director of Advanced and SRT Powertrain Engineering at FCA North America:

“The Redeye engine is effectively the Demon engine, but it’s got a different rating because of the intake restriction we have on the car. We needed to design a bit more slippery a hood, basically for the 200+ mph top speed, so a very, very slightly higher intake restriction between the throttle and the intakes on the hood, and that’s a calibration parameter that we have in our ECU. We basically map out what that restriction is, then we have some calibration values, and the result is the 797 bhp @ 6,300 rpm.”

In regards to any internal differences to the engine itself, Cowland also noted:

“All of the engine componentry is identical apart from the supercharger badge and the black rocker covers – the engines are the same.”

Other obvious differences include the 20”x11” forged Devil’s Rim aluminum wheels, the die cast Redeye badges with subsequent jeweled eye on the front fenders, and those big six-piston Brembo brakes up front (Demon has four-piston) on 15.4” two-piece vented and slotted rotors. Other than that, the cars are virtually identical from a visual standpoint. Oh, and for you geeks out there – on the lower left side of the windshield resides a Challenger Easter Egg. The Redeye shows the silhouette of the Challenger only, where the Demon shows the same silhouette, but doing a burnout. I love little touches like that.

Up until this point I was still a bit skeptical and even a little miffed. That all changed however when Dodge threw me the coveted Red key and told me to have at it. My time with the Redeye consisted of a 160+ mile round trip drive from Portland, Maine to the 2.5-mile road course circuit located at Club Motorsports Park in Tamworth, New Hampshire. That meant a combination of back roads and highway driving combined with a 2-mile, 15-turn road course with elevation changes of 250 feet.

Climbing into the cabin is exactly the same as climbing into that of the Demon, sans a Hellcat logo (instead of the Demon) in the upper portion of the seats. The seats themselves are arguably the best in the business from a comfort perspective, and offer a huge amount of lateral and lumbar support. Hit the start button, view the Redeye logo and the 220-mph speedometer on the dash, and then sit back and listen to that glorious exhaust note. It bellows for about 20 seconds then settles down into a nice low burble that makes you feel somewhat macho. From there, click the retro styled T-handle shifter into drive, and away you go.

There is an immediate difference in the two cars once underway. The Demon, with its drag-tuned suspension is extremely soft- floating and porpoising over bumps with a ride quality that’s akin to a ‘60s muscle car. While it handles well-enough with the adaptive suspension in Sport Mode, there is no question that it wasn’t designed with corners in mind, but instead to rip down the 1,320 as fast as its 840-bhp will take it.

The Redeye, however, is another ballgame entirely. Like the Demon, it’s equipped with the SRT-tuned Bilstein three-mode Adaptive Damping Suspension. Yet, where the Demon is tuned for the strip, the Redeye is tuned for handling. My inclination was to keep the car in Sport mode where the suspension was stiff, but in no way harsh. That allowed one to drive spiritedly through corners with confidence while at the same time coming to grips with the fact that you’ve got a Saturn 5 Rocket under the hood. We’re talking about hitting 60 mph in 3.4-seconds, tripping the ¼-mile in 10.8-seconds at 131-mph and then achieving a top speed of 203-mph.

You need to think about that for a moment, because those are straight supercar numbers and not something you’d generally come across from an American built muscle car with a curb weight of 4,492-lbs. No joke, this thing is stupid fast. Then there’s the blower- that big 2.7-liter blower that taunts you with its intoxicating whine and that strives to get you into trouble.

After a comfortable and thankfully uneventful drive, I arrived at Club Motorsport where lines of 2019 Hellcat Redeyes were waiting. I’ve been to this track before, and truth be told, it wouldn’t have been my first choice to showcase the handling capabilities of a 797-bhp muscle/grand touring car. Suited more to pure sports cars, I honestly wasn’t sure how the Redeye (and its 2.2 tons) would handle the 15 corners that were about to get thrown at it. After ripping around the circuit for an entire afternoon however, not only did I come away impressed, but I had an entirely new sense of respect for the Challenger platform as a whole.

Breaking down the suspension of the Redeye in comparison to the Demon looks like this: It has 30-35 percent more spring rate front and rear; it utilizes a 34mm solid sway bar up front and a 22mm solid bar in the rear, verses a 27mm hollow, front, and 19 hollow, rear, on the Demon; and there are major differences in the tuning and valving when it comes to the three-mode Bilsteins, as well as a different tire and wheel package – 20”x11” Devil’s Rim wearing 305/35zr20 Pirelli Tires on the Redeye, verses 18”x11” lightweight alloys with 315/40r18 Nitto NT05R drag radials on the Demon. Both cars run a squared set up.

Once on track, it was immediately evident that the suspension engineers at Dodge had done their homework. Set in Track Mode and optimized for maximum handling, the Redeye handled its mass better than any Challenger I’d driven before. Smooth driving was the key to getting it around quickly, and once the track line was acquired, the Redeye proved to be hilariously fun. With the ability to seemingly flatten out any hill or elevation change that lay before it, the Redeye uses sledgehammer power to help overcome any missteps one would make. That does, however, come with a caveat: being too liberal with the throttle will not only cause the rear to play catch-up with the front, but it will also cost you thousands of dollars in rear tires.

Brute force aside, it was the calibration of the TorqueFlite 8-speed transmission that really caught my attention. With active rev matching along with a gear holding feature, it not only perfectly anticipated downshifts, but it held each and every gear for the optimum amount of time to get you through the corners properly. Shifts were abrupt and precise with front-end feedback translating well through the steering wheel. While I did play with the steering wheel mounted paddles, having them there was a bit redundant as there was no way I could do a better job shifting the Redeye manually. On top of that, the engineers also figured out a way to recalibrate the Demon’s Chiller system for road course usage so as to cool the supercharger by redirecting the refrigerant from the air conditioner to chill the intercooler coolant – that’s pretty slick.

So, is the 2019 Dodge Challenger Hellcat Redeye ready to go up against the likes of the Camaro ZL1 ILE or Mustang GT350 on a road course? Well no – not even remotely, because that’s not what this car is all about. Instead the Hellcat Redeye will have to rely on it’s ability to dominate just about anything on the street in terms of power, speed, presence and everyday usability. Is it track capable? Sure – but it’s not a track car. This is a muscle / grand touring car of the highest order. It doesn’t pretend to be anything it isn’t and it’s damn good at doing what it was designed for. We need cars like the 2019 Hellcat Redeye to exist and push the envelope, and we want companies like Dodge to surpass what they’ve previously built in the hopes that it pushes the competition forward.

As for that original inquiry as to whether or not I’m upset that the Redeye was produced? The answer is simple – no. These are two different cars with two completely different purposes. One is a limited production factory drag car and the other is the fastest most powerful muscle car on the planet. Hell, the only thing I’m truly upset about is that I can’t afford to own both at the same time.